Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-09-24
CHAPTER XVII.
sILAs IS CONVINCED.

went on sue revived llCule, IOf neTS was
sapguine nature with great deal of elas-
ITCHY about it. Troubles sink into the souls
of some like water into a sponge, and weigh
them down almost to the grave. From others
they run off as the water would if poured
upon marble, merely wetting the surface.
She was neither the one nor the other of
these, but rather of substance between the
two-a healthy, happy hearted woman, full
of beauty and vigor, made to bloom in the
sunshine, not to languisb in the shadow Of
some old grief. Women of her stamp do not
die of broken hearts or condemn themselves
to lifelong celibacy as a sacrifice to the shade
of the departed. If No. l is unfortunately re-
moved, they, as a general rule, shed many
tear and suffer many pang, and after
decent interval very sensibly turn their at
tention to No. 9.
Still it was very pale faced, quiet Bessie
who went to ard fro about tie place
after tho visit Of tho o:.c eye: Esfir
I'll her irritab:iitv had LEFT her now;
she no longer ju'n.ls;l down her uncle's
shroat about his having dispatched John
to Pretoria. Indeed, on that very even
ing after the evil tidngs came, he began to
reproach himself bitterly in her presence for
having sent her lover away, when she stopped
him.
at is Gods will, UNCLE" she said, quietly.
"You only did what it was ordained that you
should do" And then she came and laid her
sunny head upon the old mans shoulder and
cried a little, and said that they two were all
alone in the world now; and lie comforted
her in the best fashion he could. 1t was a
curious thing that they neither of them
thought much of Jess when they talked thus
about being alone. jess was an enigma, a
thing apart even from them. When
she was there she was loved and al
lowed to 60 her own way; when she was
not there she seemed to fade into
outer darkness. A wall came down between
her and her belongings. or course they were
both very fond of her, but simple natured
people are apt to shrink involuntarily from
what they cannot understand, and these two
were no exception. For instance, Bessies
affection for her sister was poor thing COM
pared to the deep and self sacrificing, though
often secret, love that her sister showered
upon her She loved her old uncle far more
dearly than she did jess, and it must be
owned that he returned the compliment with
interest, and in those days of heavy trouble
they drew nearer to each other even than be-
fore.
But as time went on they both began to
hope again. No further news of Johns death
reached them Was it not possible, after all,
that the whole story was an inventions They
knew that Frank Muller was not a man to
hesitate at lie il he had purpose to gain,
and they could guess in this case what the
purpose was. His furious passion for Bessie
was no secret to either of them, and it
struck them as at least possible that the tale
of Johns death might have been inven ed to
forward it. 1t was not probable, more es-
pecially as he was not present to urge his suit,
but it was possible, and however cruel sus-
pense may be, it is at least less absolutely
crushing than the dead weight of certainty.
On Sunday-it was just week after the
letter came-Bessie was sitting after dinner
on the veranda, when her quick ears caught
what she took to be the booming of heavy
guns far away on the Drakensberg. She
rose, and, leaving the house, climbed the hill
behind it. On reaching the top she stood
and looked at the great solemn stretch OF
mountains. Away, little to her right, was
a square, precipitous peak called Majuba,
which was generally clothed in clouds. To-
day, however, there was no mist, and it
seemed to her that it was from the direction
of this peak that the faint rolling sounds
came floating Oh the breeze. But she could
less and devoid of life as the day when it first
lowered up upon the face of things created.
Presently the sound died away, and she re-
turned, thinking that she must have been de-
ceived by the echoes of some distant thunder
storm.
Next day they learned from the natives
that what she had beard was the sound of the
big guns covering the fight of the British
troops down the precipitous sides of Majuba
mountain. After this old Silas Croft began
to lose heart little. The run of disaster
was so unrelieved that even his robust faith
in the invincibihty of the English arms was
shaken.
at is very strange, Bessie" he said, "very
strange; but never mind, it is bound to come
right at last Our government is not going
to knock under because they have suffered a
few reverses."
Then came long four weeks of uncer-
tainty. The air was thick with rumors, most
of them brought by natives, one or two by
passing Beers, to which, however, Silas Croft
declined to pay any attention. Soon it be-
came abundantly clear, however, that an
armistice was concluded between the English
and the Beers, but what were its terms or its
object they were quite unable to decide Silas
Croft thought that the Beers, overawed by
the advance of an overwhelming force, meant
to give in without further lighting; but Bessie
shook her head.
One day-it was the same on which John
and jess had left Pretoria-a Kaffir brought
news that the armistica was at an end, that
the English were advancing up to the Mex in
thousands and were going to force it ON the
morrow and relieve the garrisons--a piece of
intelligence that brought some of the old
light back to Bessie's eyes. As for her uncle,
he was jubilant.
"The tide is going to turn at last, my love, :"
he said, "and we shall have our innings. Well,
it is time we should after all the shame and
loss and agony of mind we have gone
through. Upon my word, for the last two
months l have been ashamed to call myself
an Englishman However, there is all end of
it now. l knew that they would never give
in and desert us,n and the old man straight
ened his crooked back and slapped his chest
and looked as proud and gallant as though he
were 25 instead of 20.
The rest Of that day passed without any
further news, and so did the following two,